Packless Monsters

Chapter 3

 Loki led you to the elevator and down a few floors to where the communal living room, dining room, and kitchen were. The tower was huge and gorgeous. You hadn't noticed on your trip in, you were a little preoccupied being angry, bound, injured, and drugged. You looked over the skyline from the giant windows in the living room. "Stark builds nice things," you commented, following Loki to the kitchen where the food lived.

"Admittedly," Loki replied, sounding grumpy. You could tell he didn't much care for Stark. You also had the impression that the feeling was mutual. "I don't actually know if there is anything to eat in here, nor could I cook it if there is..." he admitted, sounding embarrassed that he was not providing properly. You rolled your eyes. Males were all the same. They wanted to protect and provide, but they couldn't actually do anything with the food once it was provided.

"Males," you growled, exasperated, and began looking through the fridge and cabinets to see what there was to make. He'd given you the invitation, and besides, you might bite him again if you didn't get something to eat soon.

"I feel like I should defend my gender..." Loki started to say with a laugh.

You managed to find spaghetti to make and ingredients for a meat sauce. "Don't bother trying. None of you can survive on your own," you teased as you got to work. It was a simple meal and you had plenty of practice cooking, unlike a certain trickster god apparently.

He huffed in reply. "I am a prince of a foreign world. Of course I cannot cook the Midgardian way," he grumbled, but watched curiously as you worked. He seemed surprised at how much you were making, but didn't comment on it. He was so adorable watching you work that you couldn't be annoyed with him for it.

Not thinking, you tasted the sauce, then held the spoon up for him, treating him automatically like one of the wolves. He acted so similar to them, that you were acting without thinking, which was stupid. "What d'you think?" He looked shocked and hesitated. You flushed and dropped the spoon in the sink. "I'm sure it's fine," you said quickly, knowing you'd overstepped. It was hard to tell with humans where the line between friendly and overstepping was. Loki wasn't human, but the point was still the same. "You can't catch lycanthropy from me while I'm in human form, by the way," you added while you dug in the cabinets for plates.

"No, it's not- I'm sorry. The gesture was just so-" he spluttered, tongue tied. You gave him a small, false, smile and handed him a plate. "I am simply not used to anyone being kind to me," he told you firmly, finally finding his tongue again. Had you known more about him, you might have been impressed that you'd managed to tie his tongue.

"Don't worry about it," you shrugged as you filled your own plate, but you wouldn't look at him and wouldn't let him see you hurt. You knew you shouldn't have gotten so familiar with a stranger. He just...felt like pack. "Wolves tend to be overly familiar...I'm usually more careful, but today has kinda been an off day..."

At least he didn't comment on how full your plate was, though his was equally full. You made your way back into the dining room and picked a seat. You weren't surprised when he pulled your chair out for you. You had been expecting the old-fashioned courtesy from him for some reason. You nodded in thanks and waited until he was seated before starting on the food. Even starving, you could pretend to have manners. "I apologize if I offended you. That was not my intent...I have never met anyone like you before,"

You snorted in laughter at that and he smirked. It was the same noise in both human and wolf form and he smirked when he recognized that fact. It seemed to amuse him. "I'm not surprised. No one is supposed to know about the werewolves, and seeing a female wolf out in the world is very nearly unheard of,"

"And why is that?" he asked calmly, using the same gentle tone he'd used to befriend you in the cell. He was trying to keep you calm and unguarded to answer questions without getting defensive. He really was curious and fascinated by you.

"People think werewolves are monsters, nothing but crazed beasts from horror movies. There would be chaos if they found out we're real. As to the other... there aren't many female wolves, those there are tend to be housewives," you answered the last part vaguely. That answer you were notgoing to go into right now.

He seemed to sense your reticence on that subject so switched topics. "So how did you end up in that cell with me today? Not that I mind the outcome, of course, as your company is pleasant, but I must admit curiosity as to what you did to deserve that treatment. I assume it is about as much as I did to deserve being there," he laughed. He had said he had ended up there just because Thor was out of town.

You smirked. "I saved Pepper Potts' life," you replied with the most simple version of events, which also made it sound the most ridiculous that you had ended up in a cell for your actions. "I know, such a terrible offense," you added at his smirk and raised eyebrow.

"That seems a poor way for Stark to repay you for saving his beloved's life..." he commented dryly.

"It may have also had something to do with the fact that I shifted into a wolf in a room full of people and ripped the gunman's throat out after I took the bullets for Ms. Potts..." you admitted softly. He roared in laughter.

"Yes, that might do it, love," he said between gasps of laughter.

You finished your meal in companionable conversation about books of all things. The one he had been reading when you woke sounded interesting and you told him about the last thing you'd read for fun. It seemed he had been devouring Midgardian literature while he was here, but somehow hadn't been introduced to Harry Potter yet, which was a crime. He promised to look into them and you almost made a rash reply for him to let you know how he liked them. You weren't really expecting to see him again after today.

"Are you at least competent enough to do the dishes?" you teased him when you got up from the table to take your plate to clean it.

"I am a god," he replied grumpily as he followed you into the kitchen with his own plate. You stuck your tongue out at him.

"A god who can't even cook his own food," you teased, braving riling him up because it was such fun. It was stupid to rile up the males in your life, and you felt that Loki was no different though you doubted he was staying in your life, but it was good for them to be teased every now and again. Especially by a little female wolf they thought they all outranked.

"Annoying little mortal" he grumbled, but was teasing too. He had joined in the game of playful bickering instead of getting truly offended. Maybe there was hope for this male yet.

"Who are you calling mortal?" you shot right back. "Werewolves are immortal, oh high and mighty god," you informed him with a grin, amused at his shocked reaction to your words.

"Immortal?" he started, actually not expecting that response, but your playful bickering was interrupted by the elevator dinging and voices coming from the living room.

You whirled and grabbed one of the kitchen knives from the knife block next to the stove, falling automatically into a fighting stance as your fangs, eyes, ears, and claws shifted to wolf instinctively and just as automatically. You had to protect yourself in this strange place. You didn't know who these strangers were, you were in a strange place, and still injured for all that you were healing quickly. It had made you more defensive than usual. Loki placed his hands on your shoulders, moving to stand in front of you as he did, not afraid of your appearance or your knife.

"Hush, love," he bid you softly in the same soothing tone he'd used in the cell and in answer to your defensive snarls. "It is just the Avengers. No need to fear them," he looked frantic when you didn't calm fast enough. "Please, Y/N. You're safe. You're under my protection. Please, do not let them see you as the monster that I know you are not," he begged. It took effort, but you shook your head, shaking off your wolf's fear, shifting all the way back human, and handed him the knife when he held his hand out for it. "Thank you," he told you softly, gently. Your fingers still itched to take the knife back from him. You hated feeling defenseless, but he was right. You did not want to appear a monster in front of these people. You heard the pain of old soul bruises in his next words: "Thank you for trusting me."